Health Care

Yesterday on "Al Punto", Univision's Sunday morning political show, challenger Joe Garcia (D) and incumbent Mario Diaz-Balart (R), had an animated debate on issues ranging from the economic rescue package and Iraq, to Cuba policy and the Colombia FTA. Both are running for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Florida's 25th district, which encompasses the western portion of Miami-Dade County, including the Everglades National Park. This heated race is a perfect example of what's happening throughout the U.S. - as the country becomes less hard-line Republican or Democrat, more and more "stronghold" districts and states shift into "tossup" territory. Southern Florida, previously considered a solid Cuban-American and Republican area, is changing due to changes in demographics and largely in response to the way the economic crisis has affected this state in particular. Joe Garcia painted Diaz-Balart's vote against the first economic rescue bill as "too little too late" after having had a history of voting with President Bush on all the bills that led to this current economic downturn, siding with "special interests". And Mario Diaz-Balart attempted to paint Joe was a well-versed man with no specific solutions...sound familiar? Yes, much like the Presidential race. On the issues:

On the economy: Mario voted against the rescue bill because he didn't want to give the banks a "blank check", to which Joe responded that he already had - voting to give banks the blank checks through deregulation and by allowing bills to pass that increased credit card interest rates up to 29%. Joe pointed out that while the rescue bill needed safeguards to keep people in their homes, the danger lay in doing nothing, and that he would have voted for the bill to take action to save people in this crisis.

On healthcare: Mario is against nationalized healthcare and proposed to leave insurance decisions in the hands of individuals. His proposal would be to allow for inter-state competition of health care plans. Joe on the other hand, supports Sen. Obama's plan to create a national system of health care. Unlike Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Garcia pointed out the lack of health care in the Hispanic community in particular, and the importance of lowering costs and increasing competition.

On Cuba: Both candidates are firmly against participating in any diplomatic meeting with the Castro brothers, however, Mr. Garcia is for lifting the travel ban on families, and decreasing the restrictions on remittances to Cuba. Mr. Diaz-Balart is firmly against holding talks or contact with Cuba and against fully lifting the travel ban.

On Colombia: Both candidates are for the passage of the FTA. Mr. Diaz Balart noted that President Uribe has been incredibly successful at decreasing the murders of labor leaders and improving security in the country.

Traditionally, Republicans have headed their campaigns with talk about taxes.  Democrats, they say, will raise your taxes, so vote for us. The McCain campaign hasn't been any different.  What is different this time around is that Barack Obama's tax plan is dramatically better for middle-income families. Accordingly, Obama's been hitting back.

His latest ad, "Taketh," lays the truth on thick. While John McCain's rhetoric about "tax credits for health care" may sound good, Obama points out the fine print: McCain's plan will levy a tax on employee health benefits for the first time ever.

The Obama campaign has begun to air a slight variation of its "Mother" advertisement in Ohio and Texas. The ad features Obama describing the need for healthcare reform in personal terms, while staying true to his message. He frames the solution as possible only through a fundamental change in Washington politics saying that, "to fix health care, we have to fix Washington."

While somewhat subtle, it is worth pointing out what is different about the Texas and Ohio version of the ad. First, there is a new black and white still showing Obama sitting at a table engaged in conversation with a group of young people seated next to him, all of whom looking very attentive. This replaces a picture of Obama relating to an elderly African American woman. Perhaps the campaign is pushing even harder for the millennial vote? The other difference is a still that displays two claims about the Obama health care plan, that it is universal and that it would save the "typical family" $2,500. In light of what seemed to be a greater emphasis on specifics in Obama's latest Jefferson Jackson speech, maybe this small change is another manifestation of a strategic shift towards trying to highlight more concrete facts about Obama's policy proposals and record.

Here is the ad as it will be seen by Texans and Ohioans.

For those that like to nit-pick, like me, here is the older version.

Hillary is reaching out to residents of Washington, Maine and Nebraska with a host of new TV ads.

For Washington, Hillary touts her commitment to universal health care and includes a little jab at Obama, describing herself as the only presidential candidate with a plan that covers everyone.

With the economy increasingly becoming a top concern for Americans, Hillary’s Maine ad seeks to show that she understands the faltering economy’s impact on peoples’ lives while simultaneously making no attempt to obscure where she places the blame for our current economic problems: George W. Bush.

Lastly, Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey tells Nebraskans why he supports Hillary with reasons ranging from the fact that he likes her, to his belief that she will improve the quality of schools.